Improvement in steam-engines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NVILLIAM BLACK, OF ALLEGHENY CITY, PENNSYLVANIA.

lMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 11,687, dated September 19, 1854.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BLACK, ofthe city of Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Generating Steam and of Applying it for Actuating Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had 4to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in mixing small drops or particles of hot water or its equivalent with steam, vapor, or air, then forcing them into a heated cylinder or other chamber where, when they expand or explode into steam, they will exert their force in driving the piston and thereby actuate the engine.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure 1 in the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal elevation of a horizontal engine with two cylinders; Fig. 2, a transverse elevation; Fig. 3, alongitudinal section, and Fig. 4 a transverse section as built for a stationary engine on land. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a piston with a flexible rim or case of steel or other metal and movable plugs. Fig. 6 represents the revolving brush or paddle.

The same letters and numbers refer to like parts.

A is a frame of wood or metal.

C is brick-work.

B is the boiler, which may be of any of the known forms, provided it has room for the brush or paddle to revolve.

E is the cylinder, which,as seen at Fig. 3,is longer at each end than the ramming-chambers or the strokes of the pistons,so as to have room to receivethe charge which is forced or rammed from the rammiug chambers through the ports N.

R is the rammingchambcrs or force-pumps.

yM is the rammers.

F is the furnace.

G is the ash-pit.

T is the water tank or cistern in which the ramming-chambers are placed.

V is the revolving cocks or valves.

D is the slide valves in the eseapepipes.

J J J are sets of three cog-wheels of equal size,A also equal in the number of cogs.

I is the revolving brush or paddle, with the belt and other gearing that drives it.

L are the pistons.

O are the movable plugs.

II is the case, of steel or other metal.

K K are the pitmen or connecting rods.

l I 1 l are thefour openings in each revolving cock or valve.

2 is the escape-pipes leading from the cylinders through water tank or oistern to the atmosphere.

3 is supply-pipes leading from the boiler to the ramming-chambers,

4 is the pump,with the feedpipe to supply water to the boiler from the tank or cisterns.

5 is the rack-bars and the rods that connect them with the middle cogwheel of the three above mentioned.

7 is the first or main shaft with its cranks.

6 is the shaft above the first one, and has cranks that turn in concert with the cranks on the first one.

8 is the movable dampers in the furnace to regulate the heat supplied to the cylinders.

9 is the taps and cut-off valves in the small pipes that lead from the boiler to one end of the cylinders for the purpose of supplying charges of hot water when starting the engine.

N is the ports through which the cylinders are charged at each end with the small drops or particles of hot water mixed or suspended in steam, vapor, or air,when lforced or rammed out of the ramming-chambers.

X X X X are the pins or studs that open and shut the escape-valves marked D.

The operation of the engine, after heating the cylinders to, say, 600 or 700 (more or less) of Fahrenheit, and the steam in the boiler up to about one-pound (more or less) pressure on an inch above the pressure of the atmosphere is as follows: Turn one of the taps9 and allow a charge of hot water to enter the cylinder, the size of the charge being proportioned to the size of the cylindersay one and one-fourth cubic inch of water to every cubic foot of room in the cylinder. There should be a strong grating or strainer placed on the ends of the pipes9 and in the ports N, in such manner as will cause the water passing through them to be finely` divided. The rst charge, as shown in Fig. 3, is injected at the left-hand end of the cylinder. W'hen it explodes into steam, it will 'force the piston to move toward the righthand end, as the pistons are connected to the cranks on the lower or first shaft, and the three cog-wheels being geared, so as to turn the upper shaft, which is connected to the rammers. A second charge will be forced through the ports N, at andinto the righthand end of the cylinder. The first charge having spent its force is allowed to escape through the valve D and the escape-pipes 2 at the left-hand end. The second charge,being composed of steam and water, supplied from the boiler through the supply-pipes Sinto the ramming-chamber and forced in the form of ine hot rain or mist into the heated cylinder, immediately explodes into steam of a high .pressure and forces the pistons back again to the left-hand end, after which it is allowed to escape through the valves D and the escapepipes 2 at the right-hand end, while a third charge, composed of the same andsupplied in the same manner, is expanding or exploding in the left-hand end,and so on. As the packing now generally used for piston-heads will not bear the' high degrees of heat, I substitute a flexible rim or case, of steel or other metal, as shown at H, Figs. 5 and 3, the movable plugs O being connected by rods passing through the piston-head in such manner that when one of the plugs is pressed by the charge against the piston-head and the metal rim the other plug slacks away. When the engine is in operation, the revolving brush or paddle is made to revolve by means of the belt and pulleys I, and throw up drops of hot water, which are carried with the steam through the pipes 3, into the ramming-chamber, the quantity being regulated by a governor or otherwise. The cog-wheels J J J should be geared in such manner that will make the cranks on the .lower shaft turn about ten degrees of their circuit in advance of the cranks on the upper shaft and about twelve degrees in advance of the studs or pins on the middle wheel to which the rack-valve rod 5 is connected. By this arrangement the charges will not press on the piston until it has passed the dead-point of its stroke, and the rack-rod 5 will make the valves V revolve one-fourth of their circuit in such manner as will admit the charges into the cylinder through the ports N, and shut them in. The valves Vhave a wheel with rack-teeth four times in number of the spring rack-teeth placed near the ends of the rack-bar 5Afor this purpose. The ramming-chambers are immersed in water at or under the boiling-point. rIhe cylinder is surrounded with hot air, and should be very strong-made of gun-metal, copper, or iron.

The above description and the accompanying drawings refer to and represent a stationary engine with two cylinders; but the improvement can be applied to engines for ships `was made to stop before it reached the ends of the cylinder, so as to leave room to receive the charge; but I found that a heavy ily-wheel or its equivalent was necessary to continue the motion around the dead-points of the stroke. Where much power is needed, the number of cylinders with their appurtenances may beincreased to supply it, and their several pistons connected to cranks on the shafts at such angles as will give the most regular motion. As the source of power is chiefly in expanding or exploding the small drops or particles of water in the heated cylinders or other chambers, where they can exert their force in moving the pistons and thereby actuate the engine, the steam generated in the boiler being used principally for the purpose of conveying the water` into the cylinders and holding it in suspension until acted upon by the heat, air may be substituted for. the steam asa medium for conveying and suspending the said drops or particles of water until expanded or exploded by the heat of the cylinders. p When air is used for this purpose, the boiler maybe dispensed with and the air admitted through the supplypipes 3, which have valves and cut-offs to regulate the supply. The water to .mix with this air may be squirted hot from the tank. A squirt or small force-pump may be placed in the tank and worked by the engine, so as to force water just enough for each charge into each end of the ramming chamber at the proper time, and the air rammed in such manner as will blow and carry the said charges of water into the heated cylinders through the grating or strainers in the ports N, thereby scattering the water among theV air, so as to expose a large portion of its surface to the action of the heat when confined in the heated cylinders and acting on the pistons.

I do not claim forcing unmixed water into a highly-heated cylinder, as that mode is shown and described in llfechcmc's Magazine, volume 5, page 1; nor do I claim reheating and redensifying steam that has been used in one cylinder to expand and use it in another cylinder of larger size, as this is set forth in a patent granted to James Frost in 1841; nor do I claim having discovered a new principle in superheating steam apart from water, such as is set forth in an application for a patent by James Frost in 1845; nor do I claim the discovery of a mode of creating power by superheating steam as it passes between two engines-one low and one high pressure; nor to have invented a mode of using the spent or free steam for cooking and warming water, as set forth in an application for a patent by James Frost in 1849; nor do I claim using highly-heated air as a motor or for generating steam by passing highly-heated air through water as it falls from one shelf to another, as such was done by De Rosen, and is described in Newtons London Journal, volume 1, second edition, page 156; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The mixing, by means 0f a revolving brush or some mechanical equivalent,of small drops or particles of water in the steam, as set forth;

also, the immersing the rammingehambers or pumps in Water or its equivalent for the purpose of chilling the saturated steam suddenly and just before it is forced into the heated cylinder, as set forth; also, the ramming or 4forcing the highly-saturated steam into the heated cylinders, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM BLACK.

Vitnesses:

ROBERT SMITH, R. S. SAMPsoN. 

